On This Gridiron, It's Grin And Bear It

Although The Kane County Eagles' Season Ended Abruptly, Members Of The Longtime Mid-continental Football League Power Just Love To Play The Game.

November 06, 2000|By Krystyna Slivinski. Special to the Tribune.

As the Kane County Eagles took to the football field Saturday at Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville, the crowd of more than 100 fans -- mostly family and friends--cheered them on.

This was playoff football for the 13-0 Eagles. Their biggest Mid-Continental Football League rivals, the Racine Raiders, were on the other side of the field. The crowd was small, the players were unpaid and the cheerleaders wore makeshift uniforms, but this was football and it was why the players and fans were there.

On the field, where referees follow National Football League rules, players ranged in age from 22 to their upper 30s, some with college ball experience. Some players came to the league via European or Canadian football leagues while others, like quarterback Troy Faunce, made it as far as the Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears training camps.

"So many of these guys are just happy to be out there playing football," said Faunce, 36, of Algonquin, who has played in the league for the last 11 seasons. "I enjoy doing this. It's an opportunity on a Saturday night to have fun with these guys and kick the football."

None of the Eagles players get paid. They play the game for the love of it and they play it well. Since 1981, the team's record is 125-31-1 in a league that supports 12 teams from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Wisconsin. The Eagles won the MCFL regular-season title. Now they were starting tournament play.

In time, the Eagles' owners hope to make their team as well known to local sports fans as the Kane County Cougars or the Chicago Wolves. They also would like to have their own football stadium so they could run their own concession stand, sell beer and make their presence more permanent.

But first the team is concentrating on building community support. The team, formerly the DuPage County Eagles, moved to Kane County three years ago when team owner and player, Arney Silvestri, took over. Since the team moved from Aurora to Carpentersville, the number of fans at their games is on the rise with some summer games attracting more than a 1,000 people.

"We just felt we have more connections in Kane County," Silvestri said. "We have totally tried to change this to a community team. We want to bring people out and do stuff for the community."

This past season, the team donated money to the local United Way, earmarking $5 for every field goal point scored during some games. They also invited the local Fire Department to park its trucks near the fields so that children could meet firefighters. Children from the local Boys & Girls Club were invited to a free game and hot dog.

"Once these fans come out to a game, they're hooked," said Pat Sharpe, general manager who also is the team's announcer.

This season also marked the first time the team had its own cheerleading squad.

A few women from McHenry Community College, which doesn't have a football team, called the Eagles and asked if they could use some cheerleaders. The four, who have yet to get uniforms, perform in black pants and cropped tank tops.

"I cheered for football in high school so I really missed it," explained Giulia Brooks,20, of Lake in the Hills. "We try to get a lot of support for them."

In the stands the fans huddled in blankets or sipped hot chocolate to stay warm. On the sidelines, Sue Berg, operations manager, who has been with the organization for 16 years, watched the players struggle against the Raiders, who ended up defeating the Eagles 33-11 and knocking them out of the playoffs.

"[Dundee-Crown] was one of the only schools that would take a chance on us," Berg said while never taking her eyes off the game. "There's definitely more to do, but we've finally found a home out here that we can grow into."